Fairy tale play teach character

Students created their own fairy tale character costumes for their play about character and values. (Jet Burnham/City Journals)

By Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com

Fourth-graders
learned lessons of good character traits and values as they sang and danced
through the trials of fairy tale characters for their class play.

“In school, we spend so much time focusing on curriculum that we
miss out on teaching important life skills such as patience, kindness,
accountability, forgiveness, honesty, etc.,” said Rose Creek Elemntary fourth-grade
teacher Lindsay
Speers. “What I love about this play is that it
teaches all of those rich life lessons while simultaneously giving these
students a chance to be performers.”

Speers created a safe environment
at Rose Creek
Elementary where even the shy kids
felt comfortable performing.

“It’s amazing to see the
change that comes over these amazing kids from the beginning to the end of the
production,” said Speers. “The amount of confidence-building that this process
brings to each individual is incredible.”

Parents
noticed their kids had a whole new level of confidence. Karl Fleischel said his
son, Mason Pinkerton, is very shy. This is the first time he’s been willing to
be part of a class program in front of an audience. Tracey Langston said that her daughter,
Abaigael, doesn’t usually sing in front of others.

“She’s got a really great teacher so she’s
really come out of her shell this year,” said Langston. Speer got to know her
students and considered their strengths and weaknesses when she assigned them roles
in the play.

Abaigael had wanted the role of the witch, but she was assigned to
be Mama Bear.

“Ms. Speer knew me better than I knew myself,” she said. Speer assigned her a
part with just the right amount of lines for her to handle, said Langston.

“When they recognize that I care about them and invest in their
personal lives, a level of trust is built, and that trust makes all the
difference,” said Speer.

Abaigael’s
song in the play was about the three bears learning to forgive Goldilocks. The
play portrayed several fairy tale characters learning and applying good values.

The
Big Bad Wolf learned the Golden Rule. Humpty Dumpty learned to take responsibility
for his own actions instead of blaming others. Three magic mirrors sang about
having courage to be honest even if it makes someone (like the Evil Queen)
angry. Jack and the Giant learned to not judge others. A trio of princesses
learned to show kindness despite the ugly appearance of a frog who asked them for
help. Cinderella and her mice friends sang about what to do when they were
angry with the stepmother. Their song suggested, “Count to 10, walk away, take
a breath, you’re OK.”

Eliza
Morgan, who played the role of Goldilocks, said she has been inspired by the
songs they learned for the play.

“I learned a few lessons from the songs, like
to be honest,” she said. She also tries to apply the advice to “walk away” when
she is frustrated by younger siblings.

Speers has seen evidence that the students have
internalized the lessons from the play. She heard a frustrated student say, “OK, I need
to count to 10, take a breath, and calm down” when he got caught up in an
argument.

Parents
appreciate that good values are being taught in the classroom. Lacy Martin, whose
son Andrew played Humpty Dumpty, said it is helpful for kids to learn values both
at home and at school.

“Especially
because they listen to teachers better than moms a lot of the time,” said Martin.

Speers realizes teachers already
have full curriculums.

“I still do what I can because I think it’s vital for these kiddos
to grow up into responsible and upstanding citizens,” she said.

She said fourth-graders are at a stage where they’re becoming more
self-aware and this is an important age for them to learn how to interact with others.

“It’s really a difficult age because they are changing from these
cute little kids to responsible and accountable individuals,” said Speers.

Speers purchased the play entitled “Character Matters” because she
liked how the play discussed good qualities in a fun and engaging way.

Fleischel
said he still remembers the line dances he learned in his sixth-grade program,
and he hopes his son will remember the lessons he has learned from this program.